HE April 23 edition of the made for very interesting reading, providing ? as it were ? a comprehensive psychological profile of an island that is clearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It's time, I fear, to call in the men in white coats armed with the Thorazine-filled hypodermics.

Firstly, there was an article on the Premier, his Finance Minister and their overly optimistic lobbyists who plan to visit Washington for a single day to "educate" (or, rather, beg) the US Congressional leadership not to interfere with Bermuda's offshore company business.

Good luck!

The odds of the Premier's 24-hour visit to Washington succeeding are about as long as his schedule in the US capital is short. What's required is a sustained lobbying campaign in Washington, not a flying visit.

In the self-same edition of the there was a report headlined "CARICOM snubs US State Department". This decision to yoke our embryonic foreign policy to Caricom will further militate against any successful talks with the leaders on Capitol Hill.

Why should we expect any preferential treatment from the US leadership when we have joined a regional political/trade bloc that delights in irritating the US. Caricom is comprised of mice that continually roar defiance at the US. The Progressive Labour Party Government has become increasingly involved with the politics of the Caribbean Community. Why?

Their battles are not our battles. Bermuda is not in the Caribbean geographically, economically or politically. The only possible reason for Government to subsume Bermuda into Caricom is the ethnocentrism (in some cases full-blown ethnomania) of the PLP's leadership. After all we don't advertise, "Come to Bermuda, it's like a trip to the Caribbean". Bermuda is ? or certainly was ? another world, one that charts its own course as a tourist resort, an off-shore business centre and a micro-state.

The Caricom leadership is comprised of craven, posturing politicians from the West Indies whose incompetence in managing their own affairs has resulted in their countries' main exports being their own people (most of whom end up in the United States). Yet Caricom continues to provoke the US. Caricom was not only against the war in Iraq it gave the very clear impression that it supported the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, a position not even the professionally contrary French adopted; Caricom continues to support Fidel Castro's Cuba despite the fact his Stalinist regime attempted to undermine the infrastructures of Jamaica, Grenada and Belize; and now Caricom wants the US to reinstate the twice-deposed Jean Bertrand Aristide as dictator of Haiti.

The US tried that once before at a cost of over $3 billion American taxpayer dollars. They have nothing to show for their efforts. Aristide turned out to be just like the rest of Haiti's corrupt politicians. Under his rule, Haitians still risked their lives in rickety boats trying to reach Florida, where over half a million of them live already.

My advice to the United States would be:

Give Aristide the one-way ticket back to Haiti and see how long he lasts.

Saddam Hussein is still alive. Restore him to power and see how Caricom and the other knee-jerk opponents of US policy like that.

Move the toothless and corrupt United Nations from New York, where its representatives enjoy the good life, to Uganda or Lebanon or even Haiti where its members can experience reality. The US should tell Caricom and its other detractors: "We are tired of no good deed going unpunished; we are not spending any more of our blood and treasure and you can all go and reside in a very hot place!"

Then there was your Opinion entitled "The Human Zoo", an excellent analysis of what Bermuda and some other soft-headed Western societies are facing. Because we have failed to discipline the young and not so young, teachers are afraid of the children. Parents are afraid to upset children and the children are afraid of no one. We often hear it's up to the parents to supervise the young. In some cases the parents (where they exist) are as dysfunctional as their offspring.

The PLP in general and Dame Lois Browne Evans in particular share some responsibility for our present problems. They have consistently made excuses, preached, moralised and been soft on criminals. Their emphasis has always been on rehabilitation, which is useful for minor offenders but countless studies have proved that it has been a resounding non-success with hardened ones ? those very repeat offenders who are unravelling the social fabric of Bermuda.

Everyone old enough remembers that when she was just plain old Lois, the former Attorney General once advocated "fornication in the bushes" ? and we are now seeing the results of that advice. The staggering amount of children born out of wedlock (no one wants to seriously address that) is a big part of the problem that Bermuda now faces. Everyone in every country knows that offspring from single-parent homes begin life with tremendous disadvantages. Until we get serious about dealing with irresponsible putative fathers by taking away their driver's licences and passports until and unless they at least pay child support, the community will continue to pay the price for their personal irresponsibility.

The first duty of any Government is to protect the lives and property of its citizens. Until the PLP Government stops bleating and braying about colonialism and complaining about the past and addresses the numerous domestic internal problems that exist in the here and now, they are ill-prepared to deal with Independence. Indeed, they will be responsible for past progress melting away. If the men in white coats have any Thorazine left over once they've dosed all of the politicians, maybe they can drop by my house. My stress level is such given all of the ongoing disasters and debacles this Government has presided over that I think I require a shot as well!

SYBIL, Pembroke West

PS: Sports Minister Dale Butler seems to have some understanding of the nature of criminality in Bermuda based on his recent conversations with the . His colleague Ashfield DeVent, however, continues to play the race card and engage in the sociological blame game ? he should read the book.